


Gone

by secretinternetbox



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Caretaking, Gen, Major Character Injury, Mental Instability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 10:11:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17865344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretinternetbox/pseuds/secretinternetbox
Summary: Jason tries not to get angry about the situation, it wasn’t Tim’s fault.[originally published c. 2012]





	Gone

Jason has to stop thinking as the apartment as a safe house. Because it isn’t, not anymore.

 

It isn’t safe and it certainly isn’t a regular old house.

 

It is, however, their home. His home and Tim’s home.

 

Though, if it was still a safe house, Jason thought of the best alias to go along with it. The neighbors already hear childish giggles and school-age television shows through the wall. It would be easy to say that he is just Jason, the single parent, living by himself and taking care of a baby all on his own.

 

Except that wasn’t the case. It _isn’t_ the case.

 

He is Jason Todd, soon to be the ex-vigilante Red Hood. You can’t be a vigilante when you have a dependent.

 

Someone should really have explained that to Bruce Wayne when he started.

 

And Jason isn’t living with a baby at all. He is living with his mentally-snapped adopted brother.

 

That’s how he has to think of Tim from now on. Not his boyfriend, or his partner, or even his babybird. But his dependent. It’s just easier that way, for Jason’s mind. So he doesn’t snap too. He can’t. Not with Tim to look after.

 

He tries not to get angry about the situation, it wasn’t Tim’s fault.

 

It isn’t Tim’s fault.

 

If anyone, Jason is furious at Bruce. Bruce had seen the signs of mental-illness before. Bruce had seen _Jason_ before. He should have known that Tim was going to snap.

 

Jason had seen it. Jason had known. He had plans. They were going to get out of Gotham. They were going to live by the sea just like Tim had always wanted.

 

Jason supposed that he is just thankful that he was there when it happened.

 

He’s also not thankful that he was there. Because Jason didn’t need anymore nightmares but now he’s treated to his own recollections of arriving at a warehouse countries away just in time to watch Tim break.

 

To watch the complexity and fear fade out of his eyes, only to be replaced with a bright, unthinking gaze.

 

Jason hadn’t known what to do other than keep him. As if he would have done anything else.

 

Now he has mute, wide-eyed, broken Tim, who can’t identify anyone, settled into his guest bedroom. Settled is a relative term. Because Tim is anything but calm.

 

Sometimes he acknowledges the company.

 

Sometimes Tim sees Jason. Really _sees_ him.

 

Most of the time, though, Tim sees right through Jason.

 

And that spark of hope, the racing of Jason’s heart while he thought- _This is it. Tim is pulling through just like I did-_ disappears instantly.

 

Tim stays in their apartment, doesn’t leave. Just plays with the kitten that Jason got him. Jason didn’t think it would do any harm to give Tim a little responsibility. And okay, it was maybe wishful thinking of Jason’s part but still, they haven’t had any problems with the kitten. Yet.

 

Tim gets better. Another relative term.

 

He smiles too brightly whenever Jason walks in the door. He makes nonsense cheeps with primitive, expansive hand gestures when he tries to express gratitude for dinner, and frightfully shakes whenever the news mentions Batman.

 

Jason hates that fear is that only thing telling him that Jason’s Tim is somewhere in that mind.

 

But as Jason helps Tim with his thirteenth jigsaw puzzle of the week (it’s only Monday), he realizes that he isn’t going to get that Tim back.

 

He’s just glad he waits until Tim is curled up, asleep with the kitten, before he starts crying.

 

 

———————————————————————————

 

 

Of all the people that could have found them first, Jason would never have guessed Damian.

 

But lo and behold, the brat was holding a knife to his throat just as Jason was about to start breakfast.

 

“Can I help you?” Jason asked tightly, trying his best to glare at Damian while watching the knife as it fails to waver against his skin. He also tried to keep his voice down low but of course, Damian caught on right away.

 

“Stay quiet, Todd. We wouldn’t want to wake your idiot.”

 

All Jason saw was red and he shoved Damian away from him, hurtling the Robin’s knife so it was sticking out of his kitchen wall.

 

He pinned Damian to the floor and was almost pleased at the shocked look at his face. “Don’t fucking call him that.” He snarled.

 

“What the hell are you on about?” Damian spat back at him but Jason refused to let him up off the floor. He didn’t loosen his hold, not even when Damian’s anger turned to confusion.

 

“God…you don’t know…No one knows. After all these months.” Jason let that sink in and he finally let Damian scramble away from him. His youngest brother refused to look away from him and backed up to the hit the wall with a loud thud, all without taking his eyes off Jason.

 

“Know what, Todd?” Damian grounded out, suspiciously. “I’m here to see why the hell you sent all of your intel and files to the manor. Is any of it even real? What is the point of this ridiculous game?”

 

Jason stood up, not looking at Damian. He shook his head and went back to making breakfast. They didn’t know. None of them realized. Had Bruce even noticed that Tim hadn’t been patrolling?

 

“I’m leaving Damian.”Jason exhaled. It felt good to say aloud. “The intel is the Bats if you want it. No skin off my back if you don’t want it. Tim’s data is there as well.”

 

“I noticed the data. What do you mean ‘leaving?’ And where the hell has Drake been these last few months.”

 

Damian.

 

Damian noticed.

 

Of course.

 

Just Jason’s luck.

 

Jason didn’t want to say it aloud. He hadn’t been able to. Not since it happened. He gestured for Damian to follow him and shockingly, his brother obeyed, albeit cautiously.

 

He opened the door to Tim’s room and was only a little surprised to see him awake. He would have woken up from the noise but not have bothered to come out of his room to investigate. Tim didn’t investigate much anymore.

 

Tim was awake and playing with his kitten in the middle of his bed. Jason thought that, at least, would have been Damian’s first clue, if he had been keeping an eye on their apartment. He and Tim don’t sleep in the same bed anymore. Not unless there’s a thunderstorm or Tim has a nightmare.

 

Noticing Jason, Tim grinned widely and picked up the kitten, using her to gesture that Jason should come on his bed and play with the single, long piece of yarn being wiggled to tease her.

 

Jason smiled, only half-forced. He never had to force a smile at Tim. He was just hyper-aware of Damian’s presence.

 

“Morning, kiddo.” Jason said quietly. He went over to the bed and kissed the top of Tim’s head before settling down on the bed.

 

Breakfast could wait. Tim waited to play and be active, not just stare at a puzzle or the television. These days were rare and Damian or no Damian, Jason was going to enjoy it.

 

When he looked up from teasing the kitten, Damian was no longer in the doorway.

 

The next morning, over twenty jigsaw puzzles were delivered to the apartment along with an alias and a deed for a house in a town that Jason recognized as being seaside. It was registered to a Jason T., a single father.

 

Too bad they never made it that far.

 

 

———————————————————————————

 

 

“Where did you go with Tim?” Jason was well aware of the shake in his voice but he couldn’t help it. He was barely holding onto his phone. He didn’t have time to worry about how he sounded to the brat. The brat who, up until five minutes prior, was in the slow process of becoming not-a-brat.

 

Damian was supposed to be watching Tim but Jason had gotten home, the apartment had been empty.

 

No Damian.

 

No Tim.

 

“You told me not to take him anywhere. I left an hour ago, as per your instructions. He was at the coffee table doing a puzzle. The circus one.” Damian reported unhelpfully.

 

Jason looked over at the coffee table, recognizing the pieces from the puzzle that Damian had described. It was unfinished and a few of the pieces had fallen to the floor.

 

“Damian. Tim’s gone. He’s been taken.”

 

“You’re sure?”

 

“I-“

 

“Hood? Todd?” The sound was still coming out of Jason’s phone, which had fallen near the pieces of Tim’s puzzle, but no one was around to hear it. “JASON?”

 

All Damian heard in response was a chilling cackle and the confused meow of a kitten.

 

\-----

 

One of Gotham’s many villains had to eventually realize that the Red Hood was scaling back and practically auctioning off his territory. But Jason never expected it to happen like this. He never wanted Tim to pay for his sloppy mistakes in eliminating the Red Hood.

 

Jason never wanted either of them to open their eyes to meet the crazed gaze of the Joker.

 

He tried to push the thoughts out of his head about what he should have done. How he should have sent Tim with Damian ahead of him to the new house while he finished up business as the Red Hood and how he should have moved safe houses more often.

 

It was too late for that now.

 

He groaned and rolled away from the Joker’s wide eyes. It didn’t help, of course, the Joker followed his face and kept in his line of sight at all times. He let out a high-pitched giggle when Jason finally found what he was looking for: Tim.

 

Tim was across the room, propped up against a metal pole, hands and ankles tied, looking as disoriented as Jason. They probably had dosed with the same thing, Jason thought. He was too weak for a simple bump on the head.

 

Tim, though, Tim had a gag on him. Jason didn’t have a gag.

 

Jason squeezed his eyes shut for a second, running through the possibilities. In his state, there was no way Tim had let out more than a few concerned, muted sounds. If that had happened, the Joker would have let him keep going, he probably would have thought it amusing. He would have already made a comment about it to Jason.

 

Jason’s hypothesis wasn’t any kind of relief. The gag meant the Joker didn’t realize that he was dealing with someone more mentally-incapacitated than himself. He thought Tim was ready to go for whatever sick scenario that he had planned for the both of them.

 

He’d find out eventually.

 

A slap to his face brought Jason’s full attention back to the Joker. For once, Jason wanted to try and keep his mouth shut. He didn’t need to cause Tim any more trouble. He couldn’t be the hot head. Not this time.

 

That plan backfired on him within a minute and the Joker picked up a nearby baseball bat and slung it over his shoulder.

 

“Not going to talk, eh? Changing the rules? Well, let’s see. I’ve got two toys to play with. I’m sure one of them will talk to me.”

 

But when the Joker removed the gag, the only sounds that fell from Tim’s mouths were incoherent cries and noises. He was so confused and kept gesturing towards Jason with his tied hands.

 

“I didn’t hit you that hard, sonnyboy.” The Joker turned around and noticed Jason’s horrified face. Before Jason could start pleading, the villain caught on. “This isn’t a new development?” It wasn’t a question, not really. The Joker’s grin widened and Jason began struggling harder against the ropes tied around his body.

 

The Joker began circling Tim, causing the younger teen’s disorientation and fear to grow. The noises quieted into confused whimpers. “Well, look what we have here. A kindred spirit in insanity? Not much fun when you don’t SNAP the right way.” The Joker punctuated the word with a snap of his fingers.

 

He was honest-to-god pouting. The Joker was pouting at Tim and Jason was about to commit homicide, bound or not.

 

“You are not FUN. And this is not FUNNY.” The Joker slapped his knee. Evidently, he found something amusing but for his life and Tim’s, Jason couldn’t figure it out. “Get it? GET IT? Fun! KNEE! Funny!”

 

Tim attempted to curl in on himself and the Joker whipped the bat off his shoulder to point at him. He tilted his head back and smirked at Jason.

 

“Do you want me to try and fix him?”

 

Pleas were coming out of his mouth before Jason could stop. “Please no. Don’t.” Over and over again while the Joker kept laughed and kept poking Tim with his bat, all while watching Jason’s reactions. It was only when Tim was backed into a corner, knees to his chest, and crying in earnest that the Joker began to saunter back to Jason.

 

“I am most disappointed in you, Hood, Robin.” Jason looked up at him obligingly, wanting to keep the villain’s focus off Tim for as long as possible. “I wanted to play a game. I can’t play a game with BROKEN. TOYS.”

 

The Joker threw the bat at the wall above Tim’s head and simultaneously as it hit the ground, an explosive boom echoed through the warehouse.

 

Cocking his head, the Joker eyed the bat. “Well, that’s new.”

 

A second explosion knocked the Joker off his feet. Jason recovered first and started dragging himself across the room to where Tim has his head buried in his knees.

 

Dick got there before him. Jason barely noticed Damian untying the ropes around his own wrists and ankles.

 

Bruce’s voice came from behind him, with the Joker, no doubt. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Jason twisted his head around and sure enough, he was staring directly at Tim.

 

“You didn’t deserve to know.” He replied honestly, Bruce grabbed his wrists and finished what Damian had started. Jason ignored Bruce in favor of watching Tim.

 

Dick was kneeling next to Tim, trying to get him to calm down. It wasn’t until Damian put himself in front of his brother that Tim acquiesced and took a deep breath.

 

Jason was finally able to wrench himself out of Bruce’s loosened grip and made it to Tim just in time for the distressed teen to pass out. Which was fine with Jason because his own eyes rolled towards the back of his head and he quickly followed Tim down to the floor.

 

——

 

Waking up in the Batcave wasn’t anything new for Jason. What was new was Damian sitting between his and Tim’s beds, keeping a silent vigil. Though, it was probably only silent because Damian was slumped over in his chair, asleep.

 

It didn’t last. The second Jason shifted, Damian’s eyes snapped open. Without a word, he was in front of Jason, and holding out a cup of water.

 

Jason sat up and rubbed his hand over his hand. He accepted the cup with a nod of thanks. He wasn’t injured by any means, mostly groggy due to whatever the Joker had injected him with to keep him unconscious.

 

Tim didn’t seem injured either but then again, Tim didn’t appear injured at all when he actually was hurt. Just not physically. Jason set the cup on the tray next to his bed.

 

“The Joker is back in Arkham?” Jason asked quietly, his voice hoarse. Damian nodded and then shrugged. It was the correct answer. The Joker wouldn’t stay in there for long. They both knew that. But it would be long enough for Tim and Jason to get away. Judging by the look on Damian’s face, he would make sure of it.

 

The rest of the Batcave was empty, near as Jason could tell. He got out of the bed and stretched, with Damian allowing him a wide berth. He felt strong. Even if he wasn’t strong enough, his determination more than made up for his current lack of vigor.

 

He didn’t need to explain what he was going to do next. Not even Batman and Nightwing could know where they were headed. It was bad enough that Damian knew. Two weeks prior, if anyone had asked Jason his thoughts on the brat, he would have been first in line to offer a punch. Now he was just worried that Damian was the only other person who knew where he was going. Damian was going to be in danger because of Jason and Tim.

 

On a whim, Jason stopped and looked back at Damian. “You have a place with us. If you want it. You know the channels to travel. You know where we’ll be. You’re welcome any time.”

 

Damian nodded slightly and watched as Jason hoisted an unconscious Tim into his arms.

 

“Don’t let it get to you too.” Jason told him in a whisper, unsure if it was a plea, command, or something in between. Tim’s head lolled against Jason’s shoulder but he didn’t stir. It was time for them to go.

 

 

———————————————————————————

Epilogue

———————————————————————————

 

Normally, tripping over clothes that had been left out would have made Jason furious.

 

Not these clothes though. It was a small red shirt and a jacket with two stripes down each arm.

 

These were Damian’s. Each time he visited, the brat left more and more clothes and books in Tim and Jason’s little sea cottage. It was a start. Jason was pretty sure he would get him to come around permanently. Tim and his cat had that calming affect on people.

 

Tim was doing better. Relatively.

 

A week prior to Damian’s last visit, he had said Jason’s name.

 

Jason had dropped a plate and the cat had run out of the room the moment it shattered.

 

Tim hadn’t run though.

 

He had looked at Jason and hesitantly smiled.

 

Jason had felt his hope come back again.

 

Allowing the memory of Tim’s voice to swirl around him, Jason grinned. He picked Damian’s clothes off the floor, folded then, and placed them inside the bedroom Damian used each time he came to visit.

 

It was hope enough for the future.


End file.
